Fighting For Air
by iamjessabelle
Summary: What will happen when Katniss returns home from the games?
1. Chapter 1

A/N; I'm kind of basing this off of if the Quarter Quell never happened. And what would happen if the tributes weren't picked again in the reaping. It's pretty much, Catching Fire but my way. This is my first Hunger Games fanfiction. I love the series and I hope you enjoy. (:

"Stop! Please! I'm not trying to hurt you." I screamed as a creature standing in front of me growled. I was in the middle of the arena, behind the mutt was something I needed, I didn't know what yet, but all I knew is that I needed it, and wanted it badly. This creature that stood in front of me, for some reason I didn't want to hurt it, but it wanted to hurt me. I knew it could understand what I was saying, but every time I managed to talk, it got more protective of itself, like I was going to kill it. It soon sprang at me, it was growling in my face. I cried, but it all disappeared. The arena, the creature, everything, even what I was trying to get. It all faded away into the darkness, I was free falling into the darkness, but soon screaming was heard. Prim.

"Prim! Prim!" I screamed, but I just continued to fall into the darkness. She couldn't hear me, and I couldn't save her from whatever was making her scream. I kept falling until I hit ground. I looked around. And I noticed where I was. As I got up, I started to run; I was caught by a glass window. I was in the mines, but trapped. The next thing that happened, I expected. There was an explosion. I saw my dad crawling towards where I was, things started to fall and he tried to avoid them.

"DAD! DAD RUN!" I screamed as I banged on the glass wall, but it was no use, he couldn't hear me. The next thing I know, he was bleeding, I kept screaming and crying as I fell to my knees, still hitting the window, pleading for him to get up.

"Katniss…" my dad said…but wait, that wasn't the sound of my dad's voice, it was someone who was close to me. I soon awake, realize that I'm screaming into my pillow and being forced awake by someone I didn't expect to see.

"Cinna!" I cry as I jump from my bed and wrapping my arms around my stylist who I hadn't seen since the tour was over. Months ago, I was crowned the winner of the Hunger Games with my – I guess you could say – friend, Peeta Mellark, and we went to tour the districts of Panem. Cinna was with me the whole time, making sure I looked great for each district. Effie kept everything moving, Haymitch was being his…usual drunk self, and Peeta continued to put on the show that we managed to pull off for quite some time.

Living in the Victor Village, things are different then how they used to be. Living in the Seam, we had to fight for what he needed. Fight as in – go against the Capitol and illegally poach – but we did it to stay alive.

My best friend Gale, I haven't seen him much since I came back to District 12. He's at the mines a lot, but he's probably upset at the fact that for the past couple of months, I've been acting like I've been in love with Peeta.

I sigh to myself, before realizing that my arms are still locked around Cinna's neck. He laughs a bit as I let go. "Hello there, ready to look fabulous?" I give him a confused look, nothing important was today…nothing that I knew of. He shook his head giving a bit of a laugh as he reminded me what today was. My birthday.

I always hated my birthday, celebrating it was a bit of a drag, so I never paid attention to it. After my father died anyway, he used to always make my birthday fun, but now, like I said, I try to avoid it. As my prep team got me ready, putting stuff in my hair, doing my nails, and putting makeup on me. I still wondered why I had to get so ready. Cinna's face when he walked in again made it all clear.

He was hiding something, I knew it. I gave him the _tell-me-now-or-else-I'll-go-on-strike-with-whatever-is-going-on _look and he instantly cracked.

"Fine! They're throwing you a surprise party; all the tributes from different districts from the past will be there, pretty much everyone you know will be there. But, please act surprised when you get there." I sighed but nodded my head. I hate parties; I always have, not like there was ever any reason to party in District 12, most families couldn't afford one for their children. "Close your eyes." He said as he watched Octavia walk out of the room, making sure she shut the door behind her.

I closed my eyes as I felt myself being lifted up and stripped of the robe I was in. I was strapped in my dress and I soon opened my eyes. I wasn't pretty, beautiful was far from it, I was perfect. The red at the bottom of my flowing dress dissolved into a soft orange and then into a yellow. The black corset was bedazzled on top. My hair was woven into a braid on the two sides of my head, and was clipped onto the back of my head; the part of my hair that was down was curled to perfection. My make-up was subtle, but beautiful none the less. I hugged Cinna and thanked him, reassuring him that it was perfect.

A little after 4, I was dragged out of the house, by Cinna, of course. My house was empty except for Buttercup, so obviously my only way of getting to this party was by Cinna. We walked to the Justice Building and up the steps. I chatted with him, noticing how empty the town was. We walked into the back building, a ball room that has never been used before. The doors opened for me, I walked into the room, the door closing, leaving me in the dark. The lights soon came on and everyone from town, dressed up in their nicest clothes, either borrowed or made from scratch, jumped up and yelled surprise. My face lit up with a smile, I hugged those that came up to me, and tried to make small talk with others, as the crowd around me tried to get a word in. I quickly thanked everyone for coming and tried to find the two most important people.

Prim and my mother stood in the back of the crowd and I instantly ran up to them, noticing that Cinna dressed them as well, there was a certain thing about his designing that you knew it was him. I hugged them both tight, trying not to cry.

A light cough caught my attention as I turned around right into the arms of my best friend Gale. I hugged him tight and thanked him for coming.

"Don't mention it, Catnip. You're still my best friend." He leaned out of the hug a bit, and rested his forehead on mine, his arms still around me. I smiled a bit before a familiar voice cut in.

"Star-crossed lovers no more?" the drunk said, as I turned around and saw Haymitch sipping on his wine with a little smirk on his face.

"Haymitch." I say flatly, obviously not amused with his comment. But, the thought did cross my mind, where _was_ Peeta? Probably still mad at me for breaking his heart, of course I don't blame him.

"Happy Birthday, sweetheart." He says, giving me an awkwardly positioned side hug, and laughing before walking off, noticing that his glass was almost empty I knew exactly where he was going. The Capitol sent us a whole buffet for the party, enough to feed a single family in the Seam for at least a year.

I sat down at a table by myself, watching the guest dance and eat, and just have a great time. It was nice to see some happiness in District 12, sometimes there were small gatherings that made some people happy and good spirited, but this seemed to bring out the best in everyone.

The next thing I know, a cake was brought out to me, I recognized the craftsmanship anywhere. The paintings that he usually did outside his house in the Victors Village, the fact that he worked in his father's bakery. I smiled a bit as I realized who made the cake. A pair of hands covered my eyes and the face got closer to my ears, and I could hear the light breathing by my ear, and a whisper of a traditional birthday song we sang in District 12. The hands dropped from my eyes and I turned around, as the cake was being cut – there was no reason for everyone else to sing to me - and saw Peeta standing in front of me. I jumped on him and wrapped my arms around his neck as he held me.

"Happy Birthday, Katniss." He whispered to me.

"Thank you, Peeta. I love the cake, it's perfect." I responded.

"Not as perfect as you." He whispered, but I couldn't help but blush a bit. I caught myself before I pulled away, comments like the one Peeta just made is just wrong. I like Peeta but not how everyone thinks I do. I soon get pulled away by Haymitch, now with new glass of wine.

"What do you want, Haymitch?" I snap at him as soon I recognized I was in front of a few people I didn't know.

"Katniss," he said in a warning tone before continuing on "These are some of the other tributes from the other Districts." Out of all 6 of the tributes that came, I only recognized one. Finnick Odair. He was tall, muscular, and athletic, with golden skin, bronze-colored hair, and had sea green eyes. The capitol praised him for being the youngest to win the Hunger Games, at only 14 Finnick got the most expensive item in the Hunger Games, a trident.

"This is Finnick Odair," Haymitch said as Finnick stuck out his hand and I kindly took it, shaking it a bit, before he gripped it a bit tighter so I wouldn't let go, and put it up to his lips and kissed it. He smirked at me, before I ripped back my hand in disgust. A small scoff was heard and I turned to face a woman, taller than me, with wide-set brown eyes and short brown hair.

"And this is Johanna Mason." Haymitch said, but when I stuck my hand out, she quickly turned away and walked off. Confused by this, I just shook my head, soon seeing a small old woman in front of me.

She gave me a warm smile, shaking my hand. "Katniss, this is Mags. She was Finnick's mentor." Finnick walked over and put his arm around Mags, who started to say something, that none of us could make out except for Finnick. He just chuckled as the two of them walked away, his arm still around her.

Haymitch walked me over to meet the other three people who were there, Beetee, Wiress, and another drunk by the name of Chaff. Beetee and Wiress kept talk small with me, as they seemed distracted in something else before walking away. I turned to Chaff and Haymitch who seemed to be wrapped up in their drunken state, laughing about old times.

I simply slipped away, not knowing what else to do. I walked around, still in awe of the party, but I soon felt myself being pulled as I turned into Finnick's arm. "May I have this dance?" He asked, and I soon felt myself nodding my head. I didn't enjoy Finnick at first, treating me like someone that falls head over heels for him, but as we danced and joked, I found out he was a good guy.

"How are you and the boyfriend?" He nudged me as we walked back to a table and sat down. I rolled my eyes at his comment, and looked over to find Peeta dancing with Prim. I smiled at the sight, and looked over at Finnick. "He's not my boyfriend, we are just friend. The star crossed lovers was just an act, well on my part it was." He looked over at me a bit confused.

"I know that it was staged, but, just for you?" He asked. I nodded, knowing that this was going to be hard to explain.

"After the games, we were on our train ride home, and he thought I was being serious. But, I knew that for a good show, I needed to play along. He wasn't too happy, but…I guess since we started to tour the districts, he has been forgetting everything that happened, but I haven't really had a conversation with him about it."

Before Finnick could respond one of the workers – obviously an Avox sent over by the capitol – handed over him a piece of paper.

"I'm sorry, I have to take this." He said before running towards where a phone was.

The rest of the night passed and I was soon home, itching to get out of my dress. As I got into my nightwear, there was a soft knock on my door, and my mother came in to my room. "Katniss? There's someone here to see you." I walked down the stairs and saw Peeta standing at the door, talking to Prim about something. He looked up, his blue eyes catching my grey ones; he smiled at me before putting his hand out. I grabbed it and was soon whisked away into Peeta's house right next door. His family was all gone, probably catching up with those that were at the party.

"Peeta, what are we doing here?" I asked as he pulled me up the stairs and into his room, shutting the door, he looked at me and started to explain. "I know that you know that I paint now, and I'm sorry I haven't shown you any of them, I was just…waiting for the perfect time." He opened his closet door, and walked into it, picking something up. He told me to close my eyes, as he turned around and held up the painting.

"Now look." He said, and as my eyes opened the most beautiful picture in the world was standing right in front of me. It was me and Peeta, on the chariots, when we were on fire. I stared at it, wondering why he painted it. As beautiful as it was, I couldn't stand the sight of it, but the expression on Peeta's face told me that I should just lie.

"I…I hate it." The words flowed out of my mouth, and my hands flew up covering my lips. I can't believe I just said that.

"Of course you do, Katniss." Peeta returned, his feelings clearly hurt.

"Everything nice I do for you, you have to return with a lie or you just straight up hate it. Nothing I do is ever good enough for you." His words were sharp as they spat out of his mouth. "I don't understand Katniss, and I guess I won't ever." And with that, Peeta left, running down the stairs. Once I heard the front door slam shut I knew I was wrong. I shouldn't have been so harsh…but it was the truth, I hated it. All the memories of the games started with that picture, and it disgusted me.

I didn't know what to do, leave and find him, or sit and wait for him to come back. I screamed and kicked a dresser of his, soon hearing a crash. I found myself on my knees crying as I started to pick up the mess that I had made. Reaching down, something caught my attention.

_Letters._

"Letters?" I thought to myself. "Why would Peeta have letters?" I opened the one on the floor and started to read it as best as I could, my eyes still watery. I couldn't believe it! They were from President Snow.

A/N; Well! That's it for Chapter 1. I hope you enjoyed it, and I promise next chapter you'll find out whar are about ! And trust me, you'll want to stay to find out ! Promise!

Hope you enjoyed! Don't forget to Review xxx


	2. Chapter 2

A/N; Sorry it's been a while since I have not updated! Well, here's Chapter 2, I'm also sorry it's a bit short! Enjoy! Don't forget to review at the end !

"Traitor." I growled under my breath as I soon heard footsteps behind me.

"W-…What?" Peeta asked as he re-entered the room, obviously calm now. "Katniss, what is that." I turned around and looked at him, the fear and confusion in his eyes.

"You're keeping in touch with him?" I asked furiously.

"Who?" He seemed confused.

"The man that wanted us dead! You're talking to him!" I half yelled. "You're keeping in touch with President Snow, with these stupid letters. How dare you?"

"Haymitch told me –" before he could finish his thought I stood up and put my hand up.

"Haymitch knew?" I snapped. Grabbing Peeta's arm I pulled him down the stairs and to Haymitch's house. Instead of knocking, as I usually would, I opened the door myself, letting the horrific fumes hit my nose. I found Haymitch shaking as he was finishing his next glass.

"I can't believe you!" I screamed as I threw my hands down on the table, hunched over, looking into the eyes of my mentor.

"What are you on about, Sweetheart?" he asked, his alcoholic breath filled my nostrils.

"I don't know maybe the fact that Peeta and you have been keeping letters from President Snow away from me!" I yelled at him.

"But Katniss –" Peeta tried to interrupt but I quickly shot it down.

"Shut up, Peeta." I barked while looking at Haymitch.

"No." Peeta said quietly before walking up and putting his hand on my shoulder "Let me explain." Haymitch leaned back in his seat with his arms crossed; a smug smile crossed his lips as he nodded. I slowly turned around and faced Peeta. "I never responded to those letters, he kept writing them to me, but I never answered. But, I have a feeling that there is a code we need to crack, and I thought Haymitch could help."

My head turned in confusion. A code?

"Let me see the letters, all of them." I said, as Peeta took all the letters and put them out in front of me. "Open them up, and arrange them from the first one you got to the most recent." I said, as I watched his hands slowly put them in order. I told Peeta to take Haymitch inside as I sat there for hours trying to figure it out. I read the first one out loud.

"Peeta,

Let it be known that the Capitol is not upset with you at all, or you girlfriend, Katniss Everdeen. After the events that Ms. Everdeen did, we are rethinking how to end this.

As you know, the Hunger Games end with one winner and one winner only, and Katniss knows this too. So with that being said, we would like to address the issue with both of you. Thank you for making the effort in reading these letters.

Sincerely,

President Snow."

I stared at the letter for hours, wondering what code could have been there. Peeta kept walking in and out of the room to see if I was awake or not, eventually he stopped coming, I assumed he fell asleep on the couch and soon felt myself drift off. I soon woke up, or so I thought because when I did, I wasn't at Haymitch's, I was in the arena. I looked around, and I thought I was alone, but that spine chilling chuckle soon was heard behind me. I gasped as I turned around slowly to see President Snow smirking at me, leaving my voice to catch in my throat.

"Oh Katniss, always sticking your nose into things that don't concern you, always trying to get me more mad than I should be" He circled me a few times, my palms felt sweaty and I knew that any moment I could collapse, but I had to stay strong. "Do you know what I do to people who get me mad?" I shook my head and he chuckled. He soon stopped in front of me and pointed towards a tree, his snake eyes looking into mine while doing so. My eyes followed his hand and I soon saw the Avox girl standing there, she didn't look happy, who would? I looked back at President Snow with wide eyes "But, I'll give you a little help. It's right under your nose." I soon felt myself awake from the dream, my arm covering a part of the letter except for the beginning of each sentence...that's when I had it.

"Peeta!" I yelled as I realized the code. He ran back into the kitchen and looked at me with a questionable face

"What? What happened?" He asked getting closer to me. I circled each first letter of each new line in the sentence.

"Here, look." The P in Peeta, the L in let, the E in events, the A in as and S in so and the E in effort was all circled now. "Peeta, it spells please. President Snow wants you to do something." I took the other seven letters and circled the letters.

"What do they say?" Peeta asked as he looked at me, the horror on my face.

I tried to make sure my voice didn't shake as I read it out loud. "Please, do not mess this up, kill her."


End file.
